PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  ONE MINUTE WORKOUT Researchers at McMaster University have found that a single minute of intense exercise produces health benefits similar to longer, traditional endurance training. T he findings rest on he standard excuse for not getting in shape: there is not enough time. "This is a very time-efficient workout strategy," says Martin Gibala, a kinesiology professor at McMaster and lead author on the study. "Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective." Scientists determine how sprint interval training (SIT) is compared to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT), as recommended in public health guidelines. They examined key health indicators, including cardiorespiratory fitness and insulin sensitivity, to measure how the body regulates blood sugar. A total of 27 sedentary men were recruited and assigned to perform three weekly sessions of either intense or moderate training for 12 weeks, or a control group that did not exercise. The McMaster te...

  OBESE WITH MIGRAINES: WEIGHT LOSS HELPS For migraine sufferers with obesity, losing weight can decrease headaches and improve quality of life, researchers from Italy and the United States report. The results of their meta-analysis will be presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. " If you suffer from migraine headaches and are obese, losing weight will ameliorate the quality of your family and social life as well as your work and school productivity. Your overall quality of life will greatly improve," said lead study author Claudio Pagano, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy. "Weight loss in adults and children with obesity greatly improves migraine headaches by improving all the main features that worsen migraineurs' quality of life," he added. "When people lose weight, the number of days per month with migraine decreases, as does pain severity and headach...

  How and why resistance training is imperative for older adults For many older adults, resistance training may not be part of their daily routine, but a new position statement suggests it is vital to improving their health and longevity. "When you poll people on if they want to live to 100 years old, few will respond with a 'yes,'" says Maren Fragala, Ph.D., director of scientific affairs at Quest Diagnostics and lead author of the position statement. "The reason mainly being that many people associate advanced age with physical and cognitive decline, loss of independence and poor quality of life," adds Mark Peterson, Ph.D., M.S., FACSM, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Michigan Medicine and one of the senior authors of the statement. The position statement, published in the  Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , and supported by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, highlights the benefits of strengt...

  Moderate muscle strength may lower risk for type 2 diabetes Of the 30 million Americans with diabetes, 90 to 95 percent have type 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New research shows building muscle strength may be one way to lower risk for the disease. The study of more than 4,500 adults found moderate muscle mass reduced the risk for type 2 diabetes by 32 percent. The benefits were independent of cardiorespiratory fitness, and higher levels of muscle strength did not provide additional protection. The findings are published in the journal  Mayo Clinic Proceedings . DC (Duck-chul) Lee, associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and corresponding author of the study, says the results are encouraging because even small amounts of resistance exercise may help prevent type 2 diabetes by improving muscle strength. However, it is difficult to recommend an optimal level as there are no standardized muscle strength measurements, he sai...

  A study on 90-year-olds reveals the benefits of strength training.         After specific training for 12 weeks, people over the age of 90 improved their strength, power, and muscle mass. This was reflected in an increase in their walking speed, a greater capacity to get out of their chairs, an improvement in their balance, a significant reduction in the incidence of falls, and a significant improvement in muscle power and mass in the lower limbs. These are some of the study outcomes recently published in the journal  Age  of the American Aging  Association  and which was led by Mikel Izquierdo-Redín, Professor of Physiotherapy at the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre. 24 people between 91 and 96 participated in the research, eleven of them in the experimental group and 13 in the control group. Two days a week over a 12-week period, they did multicomponent training: a program of various exercises designed specifically for them and combi...

  INTENSE STAIR CLIMBING: BOOSTS FITNESS There are no more excuses for being out of shape. Researchers at McMaster University have found that short, intense bursts of stair climbing, which can be done virtually anywhere, have significant benefits for heart health. The findings negate the two most common excuses for not exercising: no time and no access to the gym. "Stair climbing is a form of exercise anyone can do in their own home, after work or during the lunch hour," says Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster and lead author on the study. "This research takes interval training out of the lab and makes it accessible to everyone." Previous studies have proven the benefits of vigorous stair climbing over sustained periods -- up to 70 minutes a week --. Still, scientists set out to determine if sprint interval training (SIT), which involves brief bursts of vigorous exercise separated by short periods of recovery, was an effective and time-efficient a...

  High-intensity interval training rapidly improves diabetics' glucose metabolism. New research reveals that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) increases glucose metabolism in muscles and insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes. Already after a two-week training period, the glucose uptake in thigh muscles returned to a normal level. The discovery was made in a research project led by Senior Research Fellow Kari Kalliokoski and Project Manager Jarna Hannukainen at the University of Turku, Finland. The project studied the health impacts of high-intensity interval training on healthy people and diabetics, and the results are encouraging. "HIIT has a rapid impact on metabolism. However, no great differences have been demonstrated between the impact of HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training over a longer period of time. The main benefit of high-intensity interval training is mostly that it takes less time," says Doctoral Candidate Tanja Sjöros. In the study, healt...